Mexican Mosaic: A Brief History of Mexico

Our new brief text highlights Mexico's stunning geographical, ethnic, and social diversity. In the sixteenth century, diseases brought by the Spanish conquerors wiped out almost 90 per cent of the indigenous population. Since then, Mexico - first as a colony of Spain and, after 1821, as an independent nation - has exported thousands of tons of silver, affecting currencies and prices as far away as China and India. In the century following independence, Mexico was invaded six times by three different European nations (Britain, France, and Spain) as well as the United States, the latter conflict resulting in the loss of half of Mexico's territory. More recently, Mexico has played an ever more important part in the world economy. Focused primarily on the period since independence in 1821, this brief text effectively summarizes Mexico's rich history, delineating some of the major processes at the national level and hinting at regional and local counter-currents.

Jürgen Buchenau is Professor of History and Director
of Latin American Studies at UNC Charlotte. He received his Ph.D.
in History in 1993 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. His research interests are the international history of
Mexico, immigration, and the Mexican Revolution. He is the author
of In the Shadow of the Giant: The Making of Mexico’s
Central America Policy (Tuscaloosa, 1996), Tools of
Progress: A German Merchant Family in Mexico City (Albuquerque,
2004), Mexico OtherWise: Modern Mexico in the Eyes of Foreign
Observers (Albuquerque, 2005), and Plutarco Elías
Calles and the Mexican Revolution (Lanham, MD, 2007). Buchenau
has received fellowships from the national Endowment of the
Humanities and the German Academic Exchange Service as well as
grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the Tinker
Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the Southern
Regional Education Board.

"For a number of reasons, Jürgen Buchenau's Mexican
Mosaic is the most useful textbook that I have assigned in
the past decade when teaching the history of Mexico. ... The book
is well written, jargon-free, and engaging. In short, this is a
straight-forward, student-friendly text that my entire class
responded very favorably to." (John J. Dwyer, Duquesne University,
for The Latin Americanist, 2009)

"This compact textbook for undergraduate students of Latin
American, world, and diplomatic history tackles Mexico's shifting
political and economic landscape from European settlement to the
present swiftly and deftly. ...easily digested by newcomers to
Mexican history...animated by Buchenau's vivid prose and ability to
move seamlessly between local, regional, national and international
contexts...a highly effective introductory text." (Bulletin of
Latin American Research, 2010)

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